… a part in what?!
“Because you played a part” … in 30 years of Total Defence!
That’s the theme for the eighth installment of the series of annual “N.E.mation!” competition that has seen more than 9,500 students participating since its inauguration in 2007.
I visited the Top 10 teams for this year’s N.E.mation!8 and came away with a sense of awe at how articulate and convicted these youths were in our Nation’s Total Defence message.
The top 10 teams are hard at work at Nanyang Polytechnic producing their 1-minute animation that will vie for the top spot – which will earn the winning team a fully sponsored trip (worth more than S$15,000) to the US.
N.E.mation!8 main theme: “30 Years of Total Defence: Because You Played A Part”
“30 years of security and stability as a nation was built upon everyone’s efforts.
We stood with each other through the good times and bad, overcoming challenges and celebrating our successes.
We are able to enjoy what we have in Singapore today because each of us has played a part, in building this nation, our home.”
The top 10 teams are now in the final week of the 3-week production period when they work from 9am to 9pm daily to churn out the main animation for their submission.
After the 3-week period, they go off to enjoy the rest of their school holidays while their animation mentors and instructors put in the finishing touches and add in the music in post production.
The winning entry will be determined in February 2014 by a panel of judges (comprising NEXUS and animation industry experts) as well as voting by the public, which will account for 50 percent of the points.
The Partta Kappa Team (from SotA) uses an innovative combination of shadow-silhouette and real people for their animation “It Takes More …”
When I visited last Thursday, the various teams were at different stages of completion, with some teams almost 70 percent complete, although most were around 50 percent completion which was on schedule.
Catch the elation of the Top 10 teams as their names were announced at the end of selection week. And check out 1:19 onwards for the Alpacalypse Team (from CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School) performing a great song that they composed which will feature in their own animation clip (“Greater Heights”)!
In terms of technical know how and innovation, there was a wide variety of animation approaches being adopted.
“We joined this competition because we wanted to see our story come to life and we wanted our story to be screened on tv.
We wanted to achieve something and make our school proud.
We also wanted to learn interesting skills that could be applied in the future (such as Photoshop, After Effects, teamwork, confidence, etc).”
– Team Synch from Kent Ridge Secondary School, on why they joined the competition.
From basic 2D animation and embedded video clips, to stop-motion animation and even the creative shadow-silhouette play (by the Partta Kappa team) – depending on which approach best told the story the team wanted to convey through their 1-minute animation.
Tools used include graphics special effects and animation software such as Adobe Flash, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop and Toon Town.
Many had little to no experience in these complex software but had no difficulty picking up the necessary skills from their instructors prior to the 3-week production period.
I was particularly impressed with their eloquence in conveying the theme for this year through their storytelling.
“Besides work, we do have quite a bit of fun too!
Because we’ve grown close to team Hashtag, and they treated us to Starbucks, the instructors trolled us by swapping Hashtag’s tent with Momento Mori.
It’s known as the N.E.Mation! Test of Distance Exercise hahaha!
The next morning, they announced the troll and presented us with individual certificates based on our reactions!
It was an epic experience.”
– Team Deltagaytors from CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School.
You could tell that they had truly internalised the idea of every citizen having a part to play in Total Defence from the way they were able to illustrate and express their own interpretation of what that translates to for different individuals and under varying situations.
Mind you, these are rather young students in secondary school ( although the competition is open to JC students as well).
As I watched these youths presenting their animation concepts and their aspirations for their clips, it was as if I was watching my own daughter who is of similar age in secondary school.
I asked her when I got home whether this was something that she would be interested in participating next year and she was enthusiastic about it, after hearing my description of the fun and camaraderie that I’d witnessed during my short sojourn at Nanyang Poly.
Keeping Watch
Momento Mori chose the metaphor of a watch to show that every part is like a Singaporean – everybody is important, no matter how small he or she may seem in the overall scheme of things.
Their title “Keeping Watch” is also a pun to remind us that we only get to enjoy the peace and stability we have because of those who silently and constantly keep a watch for our security.
Momento Mori is one of three teams from CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School that made it to the Top 10 this year, an indication of the emphasis that the school must have placed upon the importance of this competition.
For a complete listing of all 10 teams and a synopsis of their clip, enlarge the above chart by clicking on it, or head to the Facebook page for the Top 10 teams here. All the teams are brimming with innovation and creativity.
After having had the privilege of being briefed by these enthusiastic youths, I came away infected with their sense of conviction and belief – that Total Defence is something that involves every individual, and which manifests itself in every aspect of our daily lives.
About the N.E.mation! competition
N.E.mation! is an annual series of inter-school animation competition for students from secondary schools, junior colleges and centralised institutes to express their thoughts on Total Defence (TD).
More than 9,500 students have participated in N.E.mation! since its inauguration in 2007.
The Dairy Products Team (from SotA) with the props for their stop-motion animation clip entitled “Reframe, Don’t Refrain”.
Each season, an average of 700 story ideas are submitted by teams of 3 to 4 students from over 80 schools.
Following rounds of intensive pitching by the students, the final 10 teams are selected to produce their story ideas into 1- minute animation clips.
Prior experience or knowledge in animation is not required as training in story creation and development, animation techniques and presentation skills will be provided for the shortlisted teams.
Through the learning journey of the competition, student participants acquire TD knowledge and gain useful skills that they can apply to future endeavours.
If all our youths understands and assimilates this message, our Nation’s future is surely in good hands.
What the participants stand to gain
“Skills definetely, learning new software.
Teamwork on how to spread the workload, using each other strengths to cover weaknesses.”
– The 4 of Us II team from Tanglin Secondary School on what they have gained from the competition so far.
The champion team will visit renowned overseas animation studios such as Sony Pictures, Pixar, Disney or even Blizzard and get the chance to see first-hand how popular animated movies like Kung Fu Panda, Shrek, Ice Age and Hotel Transylvania were made.
Not to mention Disneyland and iconic places like the Six Flags. Here’s last year’s winners of N.E.mation!7 enjoying the fruits of their labour.
What is even more important is that participants – of all 10 teams – stand to gain the experience of a lifetime.
The challenges of the intensive one week selection period, learning new skills, bringing their animation to life within 3 weeks, and the elation of seeing their clips being broadcasted Nationwide on free-to-air television channels and in cinemas.
To find out more about n.e.Mation!8 and stay tuned to the latest updates about the teams, get connected to their social media platforms.
Tags: animation, competition, education, Nexus, schools, Total Defence
Gosh, did Alpocalypse really compose the song themselves? They’re so talented! And they sang it really well too!
Yes Li Lian, I heard them sing an excerpt – and it was really good. btw, its Alpacalypse (with an “a”). 🙂
Do I sniff some budding romance between gaytors and hashtag?! ;-p
Hmmm…
SotA! SotA! SotA! Go Dairy Products Go! Go Partta Kappa Go!
SotA fan eh? The school’s got TWO teams in the Top 10 this year!
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